20101117

Astronomy current events question: EPOXI spacecraft previous mission

Astronomy 210L, Fall Semester 2010Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

Students are assigned to read online articles on current astronomy events, and take a short current events quiz during the first 10 minutes of lab. (This motivates students to show up promptly to lab, as the time cut-off for the quiz is strictly enforced!)

Before flying past Comet 103P/Hartley 2, the NASA EPOXI spacecraft was originally called the Deep Impact spacecraft, which had successfully completed its mission of: (A) returning samples from a dark nebula. (B) shooting a projectile into the nucleus of another comet. (C) flying through the asteroid belt. (D) surveying the moon's surface for traces of water.(E) tracking and deflecting a potential asteroid impactor.